2 Newark teens hurt in fall from highrise

Two teenage girls were undergoing surgery this morning for injuries sustained when they fell some 50 feet while trying to climb down from a Newark highrise overnight, police said.

The 14-year-old girls, caught by a parent with alcohol Wednesday night, were trying to escape the adult's anger by tying together sheets on a fifth-floor window and rappelling the building at 860 S. 11th St., said Detective Todd McClendon, a police spokesman.

"At some point during their descent both girls fell from the sheets and suffered various broken bones and severe bruises," said McClendon said.

They were rushed to University Hospital in Newark, where they were undergoing surgery this morning, officials said. Both were listed in stable condition.

McClendon said the incident began late Wednesday when a parent of one of the girls learned the girls were given alcohol and threatened to contact the police.